The School Library, the ELA Classroom, and the Literate Self: Middle-Grade Students Navigating Disparate Figured Worlds to Support Their Independent Reading and Literate Identity

• In Event: Fostering Supportive Discursive Environments

Abstract

Twenty-six middle-grade students navigated the complex systems within their school, grade-level ELA classroom, and school library, shaping their literate identity development. Students had diverging experiences in the classroom and school library based on disparate ways teachers implemented policies, restrictions, and systems around independent reading. Some students had freedom to choose what they read; others faced restrictions and surveillance. When empowered, students exercised agency in the school library to pursue interests and support their literate selves.

Author

• Laura Crisp, Northern Illinois University